The Music of Shantaram, A Novel

Teachers will tell you that poets are primarily concerned with compression and meter, image and line.

Musicians the same, though they use different jargon. What are poetry or music but incantation? What is an image but an evocation? What is a line but a measure?

A poet, even if he is writing a novel, can’t help but write music. Sometimes you hear it in the grace notes, as with a woman stooping

to brush the black psalm of her hair
one-TWO-three, one-TWO-three, one-TWO

You think that the choice and arrangement of words is a happy accident? It is meant to appear so.

Here’s some more:

Then there were the people: Assamese, Jats, and Punjabis; people from Rajasthan, Bengal and Tamil Nadu; from Pushkar, Cochin and Konarka; warrior caste, Brahmin, and untouchable; Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Parsee, Jain, Animist; fair skin and dark, green eyes and golden brown and black;

This is free verse, which means that it doesn’t conform to a regular meter but, through repetition and variations, creates a harmonious effect.

(Hint: Don’t confuse the “and” in the rhythm section with the “and” in the lyrics. In the rhythm section, “and” means a short, unaccented count. “Beat” is a freestanding count, carrying more weight than “and” but less than a full note. A "Rest" is a silence that can carry a little weight or a lot. Also, beware that sometimes musical phrases cross over more than one word.)

Then there were the people:
ONE-and-TWO-and-THREE-and REST (the colon makes the rest)

Assamese, Jats, and Punjabis
one-and-TWO, ONE-and-two, ONE-two

people from
ONE-and-two

Rajasthan, Bengal and Tamil Nadu;
ONE-and-two, ONE-and-two ONE-and-TWO-and;

from Pushkar, Cochin and Konarka
and-ONE-two, ONE-two-and ONE-two-three

warrior caste, Brahmin, and untouchable
ONE-aand-TWO, ONE-two and-one-TWO-and-three

Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Parsee, Jain, Animist
ONE-two, ONE-two, ONE-two, ONE-two, ONE-two, beat, ONE-two-three

Fair skin and dark, green eyes and golden brown and black
ONE-two-three-FOUR, ONE-two-three, ONE-and-two-three-FOUR

(Look how it slows down at the end, with the “and” in the lyric carrying the weight of a full beat. Very cool!)



The author of Shantaram, A Novel (ONE-two-three, REST and-ONE-two) has an affinity for two- and three-beat combinations with the accent on the first beat. Why?

Want to ask him?

His name is Gregory David Roberts.

Count it out.